CW@60: A ringside seat as computers transformed banking

On 22 September 2026, Computer Weekly turns 60. To mark the milestone, we asked some of our friends - experts, parliamentarians, IT leaders and suppliers - for their perspectives on how tech has changed their lives over six decades. What's changed the most for you since then? Back in 1966 when Computer Weekly was launched, banking technology was in its infancy . Book-keeping was being transferred from paper ledgers to early mainframes to reduce the manual work involved, but this did not fundamentally change the business of banking that had been established for centuries. Banks offered places to store money, move it around and borrow it - but the challenge was the sheer volume of accounts and transactions involved. Although banking products and services themselves were not about to change very much, the way in which they were provided was on the verge of a revolution. Computers enabled the volume of accounts and transactions to scale up in ways that were not economic or practical to achieve manually. At the time, these systems were used purely internally, sitting firmly within the confines of the banks and operated exclusively by staff. What happened in the following decades was extraordinary as technology completely changed the ways in which customers could interact with their banks. The days when personal banking could only be conducted in a branch or by post are becoming a distant memory as technology pulled banking into the electronic world. Three ingredients Three ingredients would be required to complete the transformation as the banks needed to be computerised, customers needed access to computers and there had to be a way of connecting them together securely. This had to wait a while until the internet, mobile networks and mass ownership of personal computing devices took hold over the following decades. Computer Weekly was there from the early days to report on progress, celebrate the successes and investigate the failures. I was there for part of that journey as I began reading Computer Weekly in the 1980s when it was a tabloid-size newspaper. About 10 years later I started work in banking technology as the UK high street banks were among the largest employers of technology trainees at the time. I witnessed the incredible and positive impact technology had on financial services over the next 30 years in various leadership roles across more than my fair share of banks around the world. Once computers had become established in banks it was clear they could offer a much wider range of opportunities to improve all aspects of business operations. Back-office functions were computerised to improve efficiency, performance and scalability while reducing costs. This phase of adoption transformed how the banks operated internally in addition to how their customer-facing products and services were managed. The final and potentially most significant step was to grant external access to banking systems. This offered customers the convenience of self-service at any time from anywhere but also exposed banking systems to the outside world which could be a dangerous and unforgiving place. Nowhere to hide There was nowhere to hide when systems went wrong and no longer any possibility of concealing technology incidents and outages from external scrutiny . Enabling external access to banking systems also created a cyber security battleground as the banks and their customers came under continuous electronic attack from around the world. As a result, business and reputational risks became very high compared to the days when banking technology was kept safely out of reach behind closed doors. Technology has transformed banking for the better over the last 60 years but now stands at a crossroads where it also has the potential to cause harm on a global scale. We should make sure that does not happen as the old ways of banking have been lost in time and there is no going back James Martin Another incredible banking capability enabled by technology but often taken for granted is the ability for individuals to access and use money globally. Credit and debit cards work all over the world as networks connected the global banking ecosystem together and enabled electronic transactions to be made between almost anyone, anywhere – subject to regulations, sanctions and limitations. Technology has also revolutionised how people work together in global banks as remote access and video communication tools have improved workforce flexibility and enabled distributed teams to work together without the need to travel. These capabilities alone must have saved the industry a substantial amount of time and money as well as reducing the environmental impact of travel and strengthening workforce resilience during business continuity incidents. What the future holds So, what does the future hold for banking technology? Artificial intelligence is clearly fashionable at the moment and it could in theory be possible to build a fully autonomous bank, but is that something we want? Should machines have the authority to make decisions that impact people’s lives, society and the economy, particularly as they cannot be held to account for their actions? Humans will need to remain ultimately accountable as there is no point in prosecuting a computer. People will have to retain a controlling role in banking so the question is, where should the line be drawn between human and machine involvement? Only time will tell, but the industry has a tendency to push boundaries until something breaks and is then forced to retreat, often attracting regulatory and government intervention as a result. I hope the banks proceed with great care and do not push this boundary too far or too quickly. Just because they can do something does not mean they should do it, and that lesson still needs to be learned in some quarters. The greatest risk Banking relies on customer confidence and that is perhaps the greatest risk technology has introduced. If major incidents and outages continue to occur, people will react in different ways to insulate themselves from disruption. That could mean holding several accounts and payment methods with multiple banks or keeping a supply of cash under the bed. Even these precautions will not protect people from systemic failures involving shared networks, infrastructure and software used across the industry. Security, reliability and availability are paramount but these essentials are under constant threat from internal mistakes as well as external attacks. If not managed very carefully, the continuous flow of software changes can present just as much of a hazard as the risk of external interference. As pressure on technology costs is relentless and software development and deployment automation expands, the potential for self-inflicted injury is ever-present. Technology has transformed banking for the better over the last 60 years but now stands at a crossroads where it also has the potential to cause harm on a global scale. We should make sure that does not happen as the old ways of banking have been lost in time and there is no going back. James Martin is a banking technology veteran. Read all of Computer Weekly's 60th anniversary essays Technology is changing the way we live and work like never before – touching people’s lives every day, opening up new opportunities and creating new challenges. So for our 60 th anniversary, we wanted to reflect on the human stories of how the digital revolution has changed the lives of some of the key leaders and influencers in tech today. Read our full collection of essays, which offers a unique set of insights and perspectives into the changes we have seen during Computer Weekly's first 60 years. CW@60 - How technology has changed our lives over 60 years